I was just playing some online games with a guy who was yacking about how he couldn't go into Memphis, Tennessee anymore because an unnamed black gang there had a bounty on his head after they'd tried to kill him multiple times as a gang initiation (because they needed to kill a random white person) and failed. The whole thing sounded very ULish to me so I wanted to check, have there been any confirmed instances of ethnic gangs in the US that actually had such an initiation? The whole story was just too unbelievable a setup- his whole immediate family had been targeted but none of them had been injured and basically this gang sounded like they were about as competent as the bad guys from a PG movie where they get outwitted by the 6-year-old protagonist. Anyone else know anything?

So the gang picks a random white dude, then if he's not immediately killed, they research him and his family and continue to pursue them. . . sure, that sounds plausible, and not at all like a paranoid fantasy.

So the gang picks a random white dude, then if he's not immediately killed, they research him and his family and continue to pursue them. . . sure, that sounds plausible, and not at all like a paranoid fantasy.

I think that's the plot of half the half-baked thrillers I've read over the years.

And how would you even know if you were being targeted this way, right? Does the gang put the information up on their Facebook page? "Our current initiation is kill the dude seen in the picture. And if you fail to kill him on the first try, you can research his family at the local records office and kill one of them instead."

The way I heard it it was a Mexican gang and they had to - can I say it here?- rape a woman. These sorts of horror stories go back to the rumors of the Mafia where you supposedly have to kill a member of your own family to belong.

In the book Lucifer's Hammer (written in the 70's) there's a reference to Chicano gangs that require killing a black in order to join, so I guess there's some kind of balance. (It's a novel, no idea if they were just making that up or thought there was something to it in reality.)

And how would you even know if you were being targeted this way, right? Does the gang put the information up on their Facebook page? "Our current initiation is kill the dude seen in the picture. And if you fail to kill him on the first try, you can research his family at the local records office and kill one of them instead."

It's like an open invitation. "The Memphis Bangers proudly announce their fall pledge drive. The first person to kill George (pictured) gains admittance to the club. Please provide his left thumb for verification."

I was thinking more like the way college students pledge for fraternities or sororities. Except instead of going through hazing rituals with heavy drinking and barnyard animals, they have to kill white folks selected through some sort of bad-luck lottery.